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arabians207
(211 points)
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So am officially trying out for All-State in October! At my school we have to do pre-auditions to be able to audition and that alone is a pretty good accomplishment as our schools music program is great and the flute section is SO competitive..
But my chromatic scale sucks.. ugh. No way else to put it! I could play it really well like 2 weeks ago, then the night before my pre-audition i like.. couldn't play it anymore and between then and my band audition (for chair placement for concert bands after marching season) I've worked really hard on it.. and it was still crap when I played it for the audition! I know part of it is just that I was really nervous, but I NEED to get it better.. the problem is just the top octave. Well, really just the top notes from Ab-C-Ab again.. I learned high Bb with first finger on the left down, and I've been trying to get it without that but its been hard. On the Bb scale I am ok with it up but I just cannot get it up correctly on the chromatic! Also a lot of the problem is just the timing. If I could tongue it that fast, I think I could do it much better.. but it really is all the first fingers fault!
I've done just the top octave or just those 5 notes in different rhythms/patterns, and those over and over very slowly and click up the metronome one notch at a time until I'm going a decent speed (100-104 at sixteenths. I could for a little play 116 at sixteenths really good..) but then it just gets sloppy sometimes..
Any suggestions?
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Patrick
(1515 points)
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practice very slowy, descending from the top down, that will strenghthen those top notes..
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Micron
(1480 points)
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Just checking....
I hope you are pressing the trill key (between F and E)down for your Bb? It should be a relatively easy note - as easy as 'A'.
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arabians207
(211 points)
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Ya, I am 
I can play the note fine. Actually my tone all the way up is good, its just my fingers get all sloppy if its very fast.. I think its just the fact its all slurred so the timing of all my fingers are off? I've been trying different articulation patterns as well as different rhythms, all pretty slow.
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DWW
(27 points)
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As Patrick says, lots of slow practice.
FWIW, one thing that helps me is practicing the third octave chromatic slowly, with a metronome in front of a mirror to watch your fingers. Concentrate on keeping your fingers relaxed and close to the keys at all times. Once you have got it sorted at a slow tempo start nudging the tempo up a notch at a time. Keep concentrating on relaxed fingers and small finger movements.
For me the whole thing starts getting out of control when I have too much tension in the fingers and allow them to move too much.
Good luck!
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Micron
(1480 points)
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Every time you play it sloppy, you are practicing at getting better at sloppy playing. The sloppy patterns of finger coordination (and coordination of blowing and tonguing) will get more and more ingrained.
So you must never play faster than you can do it without sloppiness. Even if you have to play a passange 500 times slowly to get the non-sloppy patterns ingrained, you must do this before playing it fast enough to be sloppy.
Every single time you play it fast and sloppy, you will need to practice it several times slow and perfect to undo the damage you do by the sloppy playing.
Top flute players never got there by repeatedly doing things sloppy and hoping it would come right. They had the discipline to ensure that it was never sloppy in the first place, when they were laying the foundation with slow, blemish-free practice. There are no shortcuts.
Periodically I follow a link in this forum to some proudly presented playing of technically difficult material. Not always, but often, it has very sloppy note changes. Oh dear! It is very difficult to undo all that practice of how to play it fast and sloppy, and the sloppiness will transfer to every other piece the player plays.
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Patrick
(1515 points)
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well said Micron...remember, the saying should not be "practice makes perfect" , it should be "perfect practice makes perfect"
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Canadian
(732 points)
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Also: Don't practice 'til you get it right, practice 'til you can get it wrong!
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